Madness lies in doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result. So instead of transport planning in the paradigm of predict and provide, we bring you Triple Access Planning (TAP) in the paradigm of Decide and Provide.

While transport planning has continued to evolve, it has remained tethered for too long to an era of traffic growth allied to pursuit of economic growth that now seems to many incompatible with a climate emergency.

We need an approach that is vision-led not forecast-led, that is access-focused not mobility-focused, and that embraces not conceals uncertainty. This is TAP. It now resonates with the desperate need to decarbonise, the significant role digital accessibility plays (directly or indirectly) in many people’s lives, and the uncertainty about the future amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic everyone has experienced.

I’m delighted to announce that the next PTRC Fireside Chat on 7 March (12.30pm-2.00pm GMT) brings together a panel representing some of the protagonists in the TAP story. Suitably presided over by the Chair of the Transport Planning Society, Ben Plowden, this will be a conversation about the need for change, the change makers and the challenges associated with bringing a new approach into the mainstream. It is timed to coincide with the forthcoming availability of a new TAP Handbook for Practitioners from the pan-European project called ‘Triple Access Planning for Uncertain Futures’.

You can book your free place to join us here where you can already read more about the event and our panel members – Rose McArthur, Stephen Cragg, Annette Smith, Deborah Paton and myself.

TAP is not a promise to make our lives easier as professionals but it does offer a greater prospect of being an approach that is fit for purpose for the times we are in and the future we face.

Andrew JacksonCody DavidsonTom ForsterIngrid Sage Jennifer McSaveney Emma MacDonaldAmelia Morgan Anke Kole Sue PercyJustin WardAndrew HugillGordon BakerLynn BasfordPaul HammondKate MackayAnna RothnieMartin ParrettiAlicia WallisDaniela PaddeuKiron ChatterjeeTamara BozovicDavid LudlowGraham ParkhurstVincent MarchauMaha AttiaSander LenferinkLuka MladenovicTom RyeJacob WitzellTony SvenssonJonas BylundGianfranco FancelloFrancesco Piras